5+Star+Resources


 * ​​5 Star Resources **

[|**Blue Skunk Blog**] Author: Doug Johnson (Writing, speaking and consulting on school technology and library issues) Purpose and Description of Blog: Doug writes this blog because it is a place where he can express his thoughs and people can respond to what he is thinking. He writes about topics that are inviting to teachers.  Doug's Bio: Doug Johnson is the Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato (MN) Public Schools. His teaching experience has included work in grades K-12. He is the author of four books, columns in Library Media Connection and the Education World website, the Blue Skunk Blog, and his articles over forty books and periodicals. Doug has worked with over 130 organizations around the world and has held leadership positions in state and national organizations, including ISTE and AASL.  Rating: I love his humor. His articles make me think and are written. I give this blog a 5 star rating because it makes me think a lot about school technology. Julie Budd Kim Balko

[|Teachers Teaching Teachers] Author: Two teachers–Paul Allison and Susan Ettenheim Purpose of the Blog: Weekly webcasts that are for professional development, as well as community building in the education field. Most of the information is on utilizing technology in the reading and writing areas. The conversations are then saved and can be viewed as podcasts. Resources on site: Blogs, podcasts, webcasts.This site is very user friendly and beginners will feel at ease. I enjoyed listening to several of the podcasts and would love to try and be apart of a live webcast. The information is valid for kindergarten through twelfth grade. Rating**:** This site deserves a 5 star rating. There is a lot of information to learn from and is presented in a manner that all can understand. Kim Balko

[|Edutopia]  Publisher/Author: The George Lucas Foundation Purpose/Description: This website allows acces to core concepts, reports, blogs, videos, and a magazine on educational topics. The blogs are written by a group of contributors with varying backgrounds. There are several educators, a psychologist, and education consultant, and a few other education related professionals. Discussions on the blogs vary on all topics of education including technology. Rating: This site deserves a 5 star rating because it a lot of information dealing with education and educational practices. Meghan Cole

[|Beth’s Thoughts on Technology in the Classroom] Publisher/Author: Beth Knittle Purpose/Description: This site focuses on education, technology, and learning. Beth uses this site to share her thoughts on technology in the classroom. She also provides sites and a reading list to resources that are helpful in this category. Beth is a technology integration specialist for grades k-12. I found a lot of her entries to be interesting and clever. The site is easily navigatable. Rating: I give this site a 5 star rating because Beth provides a lot of useful information for technology in your classroom. Jennifer Albrecht

[|The Art Teacher’s Guide to the Internet] Brief description: This is a blog authored by Craig Rowland. In this blog, he posts many links to videos related to arts advocacy, resources, and technology based art projects. This blog is an extention of a book, also written by Rowland, of the same name. Resources: Videos, links, project idea resources. Rating: Very informative. Easy to navigate. Seems to apply more to the elementary level teacher. 5 stars.  Tanya Coates

__http://www.techlearning.com/blogs.aspx?id=23342__ Author: David Andrade Purpose of Blog: This site is about the skills needed by both students and educators for the 21st Century technology. Resources on the site range from webinars, blogs, best practices and tech forums. This site is very useful for both the beginner techies to the advanced. If you can’t find what you are looking for here, I’m not sure you will find it elsewhere. Rating** : ** I would give this site 5 stars. Great site for the novices to the experts. Judy Behling

[|Moving at the Speed of Creativity] Author : Wesley Fryer Purpose of Blog : Wesley Fryer blogs about his experiences learning how to use technology in education as well as his experiences collaborating with others about the same topic. He offers presentations and workshops for educators and seems to have a lot to share. He uses a lot of visuals and video clips to share his thoughts and the thoughts of others about the internet and all it has to offer to educators and the rest of the world. Rating : Very insightful and visually stimulating, I give this blog a 5 star rating. Samantha Cojuangco